New March Clip Showcases the Strength and Influence of HBCU Band Culture

By Stephanie Holland

If you’ve ever watched an HBCU football game, you already know the band is the best part. Sorry, football players, but marching bands are the real MVPs.

To that end, the CW is taking a deep dive into the world of HBCU marching bands with its new reality series March, premiering Monday, Jan. 24 at 8 pm. Once All American and All American: Homecoming take over Mondays, March will move to Sundays on Feb. 27 at 9 pm.

Per a press release provided to The Root: “Embedded inside the Prairie View A&M University Marching Band, The Marching Storm, this engaging eight-part series will capture the blood, sweat, and tears each member sheds to make it to the field while balancing their dynamic college life.”

In a new clip, Prairie View A&M University Marching Band finds out they are No. 8 in The Undefeated’s rankings. Obviously, this is a shock and disappointment for the band members, but it also motivates them to show everyone how wrong they are. As previously reported at The Root, The Marching Storm would eventually finish the season as The Undefeated’s No. 1 band; and this series chronicles the countless challenges that the band faced along the way.

“It is an honor to be validated by a panel of my peers especially in the age of YouTube and instant gratification for everything,” Tim Zachery, director of bands at Prairie View A&M, told The Undefeated. “We have taken the charge of making our students aware of what they do well and areas that they can improve on. ESPN [The Undefeated] gives us a platform to use as a measuring stick, not against others but ourselves.”

In addition to celebrating HBCU band culture, and following the personal stories of band members and staff, March also includes performances at homecoming from Texas A&M and Southern University.

If you’re a fan of The CW’s All American, and looking forward to its spinoff, All American: Homecoming, which follows Simone as she begins her new HBCU life, then March is probably right in your wheelhouse.